U.N.'s Ban Says Copenhagen Might Not Reach Climate Funding Deal

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Copenhagen talks might conclude without a deal on climate mitigation funding for developing countries, the Financial Times reported today. Ban pointed to agreement on $10 billion of annual funding for the next three years while asking for "common sense, compromise and partnership" to prevail and developing countries to sign onto an agreement. Ban called on countries to "stop pointing fingers" and make new pledges on cutting GHG emissions to revive the talks.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called herself "somewhat nervous" about the possibility of failure and Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong added that "all of us are concerned about what would happen" in that event, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China felt "that developed countries have the obligation to provide financial support."

U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern called on China to provide "adequate, significant participation" in a deal. Stern added that "I'm not anticipating any change in the mitigation commitment" by the U.S.

Stern contested EU calls for the U.S. to use a 1990 baseline for emissions cuts instead of a 2005 baseline. He claimed that only in global climate talks would the 1990 baseline "be treated as sacrosanct" and maintained that the U.S. and EU were at similar emissions levels when measured by carbon intensity, the Associated Press reported. Both the U.S. and China remained intransigent, but the Obama administration expressed confidence that a deal will be reached.

Reuters reported that White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama believed nations could reach "an operational agreement that makes sense in Copenhagen, over the next few days." Gibbs added that Obama "reiterated his commitment to making progress toward a successful conclusion of an operational agreement in Copenhagen."

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